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GLOBALIZATION

“creating the capacity to consume”
among the poor. In India, for example,
Procter & Gamble sells single-use
sachets of detergent and shampoo that
are affordable for the poor. Butthe vast
majority of such efforts have been aimed
at urban consumers in India, China, and
South America who are just below the
middle class. Multinationals can learn a
great deal from Telenor’sand Digicel’s
creative ways of generating purchasing
power among consumers with much
lower income.
Telenor’s joint venture with Grameen
Telecom in Bangladesh has several
programs aimed at doingthis, including

Even the Poorest Can
Be a Thriving Market
by Jean-Louis Warnholz

The idea that global companies can do
good and do well at the “bottom of the
pyramid” – that is, among thepoor populations of developing countries – has generated excitement among corporations,
governments, and NGOs in recent years.
But most of the resulting initiatives by
multinationals have missed thevery poor,
the 2 billion people in places like Haiti
and Bangladesh who live on less than
two dollars a day and have
been virtually ignored by the
corporate world and cut off
from the globalmarketplace.
The multinationals seem not to
have noticed the examples of
Telenor and Digicel, innovative
mobile phone companies that
have found opportunities to
earn profits and simultaneouslyimprove local economic
landscapes by serving the
very poor.
Telenor was drawn to
Bangladesh and Pakistan, and
Digicel to Haiti, by low-wage
workforces and the potential
for creating local consumermarkets, despite endemic
poverty. Both companies
refused to accept the lowpurchasing-power status quo
and have been systematically
building up local consumer markets.
They are now boostingeconomic growth
by generating jobs, tax revenue, and
investment.
Their success should come as no
surprise. Indeed, the argument that
companies can improve poor economies
while making profits by...